MUDA ‘scam’: Governor grants sanction for corruption case against Siddaramaiah

The three private complainants T J Abraham, Snehamayi Krishna and Pradeep Kumar, all anti-corruption activists, had approached the Governor in July alleging corruption in the acquisition of 3.16 acre of land in the Kesare village of Mysuru in 2004 by Siddaramaiah’s brother-in-law B M Mallikarjun. The latter had gifted the land in 2010 to Siddaramaiah’s wife Parvathi B M.

This land was subsequently exchanged in 2021 for 14 housing sites by the Mysore Urban Development Authority under a 50:50 scheme (where land equivalent to half the acquired land is allotted in a developed area) in Mysuru’s Vijaynagar area.

After a special Cabinet meeting convened on Saturday, Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said the Cabinet decided to oppose and condemn the Governor’s decision. “The entire Cabinet, party MLAs and party leadership is behind Siddaramaiah. The CM will not bow down to pressure,” he said.

“Cabinet has decided that the sanction for prosecution has no constitutional backing. We are going to challenge… It has strongly condemned the Governor for working as a representative of the Central government,” Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said.

“The party MLAs and the high command has said they will stand with me,” he said. To a question if he would step down, he said, “Why should I resign? According to me, the Governor should resign.”

“There is a standard operating procedure in such cases which has not been followed. Only a police officer can seek a sanction based on an investigation report otherwise the Governor’s office will turn into a post office for private complaints,” the legal advisor to the CM and Congress legislator A S Ponnana said.

The Siddaramaiah government had stopped the 50:50 scheme of MUDA in October 2023 after complaints of misuse of the scheme (that was started during the BJP tenure in 2020) by vested interests. All land exchange by MUDA under the 50:50 scheme was halted pending an inquiry after allegations of corruption against the CM in June.

The Karnataka government is expected to challenge the Governor’s decision. In anticipation of the sanction, the Congress rallied around the Chief Minister on August 9 and the state Cabinet passed a resolution on August 1 advising the Governor against the sanction. The Congress Cabinet held a special meeting Saturday evening.

Karnataka Industries Minister and Congress leader M B Patil on Saturday said the office of the Governor was being used by the NDA government at the Centre to target a backward class and pro-poor CM.

“When the complaints were filed against the CM on July 26, the Chief Secretary provided all the necessary information but on the same day, the Governor hastily issued a show cause notice to the CM raising suspicions about his conduct. There are requests for prosecution of JDS leader H D Kumaraswamy and BJP leader Shashikala Jolle pending for months on which the Governor has not acted,” Patil said.

Congress spokesperson Ramesh Babu said the Governor’s move violates a 2015 order of the Karnataka HC which rejected a sanction for prosecution of former BJP CM B S Yediyurappa on the grounds that “relevant consideration” of complaint was not done by the Governor. The court had also said the Governor could not have granted a sanction on the basis of a private complaint without an investigation report on the cases by an independent agency.

In the MUDA scam, the Karnataka government has constituted two separate probes: first by a one-man judicial commission headed by former Karnataka HC judge P N Desai and, second by an IAS officer Venkatachalapathy. There are, however, Karnataka HC orders which have ruled that a Governor’s sanction is not required to file a private complaint against a public servant in a Prevention of Corruption case.

While granting sanction for filing of complaints in a court against chief minister Siddaramaiah, the Governor has stated that the ordering of two separate probes by the Congress government into the MUDA scam raises suspicion of wrongdoing. “Further, the constituting of a committee under an IAS officer and immediately constituting one more committee under a retired Judge of the High Court and the Government’s own acceptance that there is a potential big ticket scam in the allotment of sites by MUDA does not inspire much confidence,” the Governor said in his August 16 sanction order.
“It is a well settled legal principle that the person against whom allegations are made, should not be empowered to decide the course of action,” the Governor said.

“Upon perusal of the petition along with the materials in support of the allegations in the petitions and subsequent reply of Sri Siddaramaiah and the advice of the State Cabinet along with the legal opinion, it seems to me that there are two versions in relation to the same set of facts. It is very necessary that a neutral, objective and non-partisan investigation should be conducted. I am prima facie satisfied that the allegations and the supporting materials disclose commission of offences,” Gehlot said.

The BJP in Karnataka has been demanding Siddaramaiah’s resignation over the MUDA land issue. Along with its ally JDS, it staged a week long protest march from Bengaluru to Mysuru from August 3 to August 10 seeking Siddaramaiah’s resignation. Siddaramaiah said during the protest march by the opposition that he would not “budge or bow” to the demand for his resignation.